


The Flow of the Soul

by Teuthida



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Angst, Lack of Communication, M/M, Nonnies Made Me Do It, Prompt Fill, Rituals, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-27
Updated: 2018-09-27
Packaged: 2019-07-18 04:56:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 970
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16111256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Teuthida/pseuds/Teuthida
Summary: "Aren't you worried?" Victor asked, his voice oddly small. "That you have a match out there, waiting for you. A soulmate. Someone that isn't me."





	The Flow of the Soul

No one knew just when or how the practice of Marking began. Mentions of it were found in the earliest written records of Ancient China, but rumors were that the Markers themselves knew it was far older. Of course, the Markers also had more than a bit of a stake in maintaining the secretive rituals and histories of their profession. Still, it had a history going back thousands of years and had survived both the Meiji Restoration and the Chinese Communist Revolution, even if it never did catch on in the West.

So Yuuri's parents had taken him to Hasetsu's Marker when he was five, as tradition dictated, despite the complete lack of scientific evidence that the Mark was anything more than a pretty tattoo. They wanted him to one day find his match and be happy, like they had. He remembered being terrified, but the woman had smiled at him, given him mochi, and told him to take off his shirt and be still. Incense had been lit, and rituals chanted. Then she'd begun to paint. 

No one knew how the special paints stayed on the skin for life, though that was partially because the Markers wouldn't let anyone study them. They should have flaked off quickly with the death of skin cells, but they remained, as bright and vibrant as the day they were applied, until the day you died. Yuuri thought he remembered a tug, like it was connecting to something deep in his body, but he'd long suspected that wasn't actually a real memory. 

When she'd finished, she'd shaken herself, as if coming out of a trance, and said, "Ah, Yuuri-kun, it's beautiful. Your soulmate will be a very special person indeed." She'd handed him a small mirror and held up another behind him, showing him the pair of dancing snowflakes on his back for the first time. Then she'd taken a picture for the government records, and that had been that. 

Most of Yuuri's peers had met their match in school, but Yuuri never had. He'd put it behind him, decided the whole thing was just unscientific nonsense, and moved on with his life. 

Or at least, he'd thought he had. 

Victor traced his fingers down Yuuri's back. "It's so beautiful," he said.

"I didn't choose it," Yuuri deflected, "but thank you."

"Aren't you worried?" Victor asked, his voice oddly small. "That you have a match out there, waiting for you. A soulmate. Someone that isn't me."

Yuuri rolled over to look at him. "Victor, no. It's just a painting. It doesn't matter. I," he swallowed, still finding it hard to get the words out, "I love you. I love you. That's what matters."

Victor smiled, a little tremulously. "I love you too."

"You are my soulmate, no matter what some painting says," Yuuri said firmly, reaching forward to run his fingers down Victor's cheek. "Okay?

Victor leaned in for a kiss, and then pulled back with a smile. "Okay!"

Yuuri thought that had been the end of it. He should've known better. 

They'd been back in Hasetsu for the summer for a week when Victor woke him far too early on a rest day. 

"Victor?" Yuuri yawned, blinking hard. "Is something wrong?"

Victor leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. "You can go back to sleep in a minute, love. I just wanted to tell you that I'm going to Fukuoka and won't be back until late afternoon."

Yuuri frowned. "What, why?"

Victor smiled brightly. "I found a Marker who's willing to give Marks to adult gaijin! We can be sure Yuuri, really sure."

Yuuri felt his heart drop into his stomach and struggled to sit up. "I can come with you."

Victor shook his head. "She told me to come alone or with someone who wasn't my partner."

Yuuri stared at him. "Victor...."

"Don't worry, she has excellent reviews. I did a lot of research."

"You didn't tell me that this was something you were thinking about," Yuuri said, feeling strangely blank. 

"I wanted to surprise you!"

"I'm definitely surprised."

Victor reached out and took his hand. "I want to be able to show the world how perfectly matched we are! I've already started designing costumes to show them off."

"Victor," Yuuri asked slowly, his throat feeling choked, "what if they don't match?"

Victor leaned in to kiss him. Yuuri kissed back on autopilot before Victor pulled away. "Don't worry, they will. I'll be back later, okay? Go back to sleep. I love you!"

Yuuri nodded mechanically. "I love you too."

He watched as Victor left the room and collapsed back onto the bed, staring up at the blurry ceiling. 

They weren't going to match. They were just paintings. A weird, old ritual used to matchmake in small villages, brought into the modern world. 

But Victor thought that they were more than that. He'd bought into the propaganda that they really matched up soulmates. He was a romantic, and Yuuri had seen the way he'd listened to Yuuko talk about her and Nishigori's matching Mark with stars in his eyes. The way he'd looked at Yuuri's father's Mark in the onsen with longing. 

They weren't going to match. And Victor was going to take that as proof that there was someone even better for him out there - and more importantly, someone even better for Yuuri. As if that was even possible. 

But Victor was a romantic, in every sense of the word. He'd step back. He'd leave. For Yuuri, so that Yuuri could find his "real" soulmate. 

Yuuri stared at the blurry ceiling and waited for his entire life to come crashing down. He'd never hated anything more in his life than he hated his Mark right now. 

And there was nothing he could do but wait for the end to come.

**Author's Note:**

> This was mostly just a quick prompt fill I wrote a few months ago that I realized was really too long for my prompt collection when I went to batch post them, and unfortunately I don't have any plans to continue it. I also really don't have any idea what Victor's painting turns out to be, or if they do match or not. Or even if soulmates really are real or not, in this universe, and if they are if the paintings actually match them.
> 
> So, uh. Schrodinger's soulmates?
> 
> Sorry.


End file.
